Guillory said something must be done at this time because, "we have an almost $19 billion dollar unfunded liability. The state takes in $8 billion a year in income and we are paying $2 billion or a quarter of that in pension costs."

The Senate is trying to raise the retirement age to 67 for new hires and people who have been in the system for more than 10 years will not be affected. A combination retirement plan will be implemented to protect retiree investments and provide $150 - $200 million to the state each year.